A deeper look at COVID-19 ZIP code breakdowns in Mahoning County
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect correct statewide coronavirus data.]
YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Public Health finally released a crucial tool for understanding the effect of the coronavirus pandemic in the county — ZIP code breakdowns of cases and deaths.
On July 2 — almost two weeks after Mahoning Matters called for the data in Freedom of Information Act request to local health departments — the department shared a ZIP code map that will be updated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Columbiana County Health Department provided the county's ZIP code breakdowns on June 24. We are still waiting on the data from Trumbull County Combined Health Department.
Unsurprisingly, most of the coronavirus cases in Mahoning County come from the county's populous areas, like Boardman and Austintown.
The 44512 ZIP code, which includes parts of Boardman, reported 294 total confirmed cases, the highest concentration of cases among any other Mahoning County ZIP code. Of those, 41 percent — 120 cases — were reported at long-term care facilities.
There have also been 41 total deaths reported in that area.
The 44515 ZIP code, which includes parts of Austintown, reported 209 confirmed cases. Of those, 31 percent — 65 cases — were reported at long-term care facilities; 28 deaths were reported in 44515.
ZIP codes with the most cases per capita — one case per 100 people or fewer — include 44672 (Sebring), 44504 (Youngstown's North Side), 44442 (New Middletown) and 44452 (North Lima).
Most of the cases in Sebring, New Middletown and North Lima were reported at long-term care facilities; 81 percent of Sebring's cases, 79 percent of New Middletown's cases and 69 percent of North Lima's cases were reported at places like nursing homes and assisted living centers.
Only 54 percent of the cases in 44504, which includes the area surrounding 5th Avenue between Youngstown State University's campus and Gypsy Lane, are from long-term care facilities.
One of the narratives of the pandemic is that Black Americans are disproportionately testing positive for the coronavirus and dying from COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black Americans are five times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than white Americans.
General data from Mahoning County Public Health has reflected mixed data for those trends. For example, an update provided June 26 showed that Black people make up about 14 percent of the cases in Mahoning County, despite making up about 16 percent of the population. The trend is more evident in mortality data, however, as Black people make up about 48 percent of the virus-related deaths in the city of Youngstown, but only account for 39 percent of the population.
Statewide, coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions continue to trend upward. The week between June 28 and July 4 saw the largest amount of new cases — 6,519 new confirmed cases — surpassing mid April's record of 5,047, added during the week of April 19.
Here's a breakdown of each week of the pandemic so far has looked like in Ohio. Data in bold reflect the peaks in new cases, deaths, hospitalizations and ICU admissions.
March 15 to March 21
- New cases: 221
- New deaths: 3
March 22 to March 28
- New cases: 1,159
- New deaths: 22
- New hospitalizations: 261
- New ICU admissions: 123
March 29 to April 4
- New cases: 2,333
- New deaths: 77
- New hospitalizations: 662
- New ICU admissions: 203
April 5 to April 11
- New cases: 2,448
- New deaths: 140
- New hospitalizations: 853
- New ICU admissions: 246
April 12 to April 18
- New cases: 3,752
- New deaths: 192
- New hospitalizations: 660
- New ICU admissions: 188
April 19 to April 25
- New cases: 5,044
- New deaths: 237
- New hospitalizations: 596
- New ICU admissions: 178
April 26 to May 2
- New cases: 3,554
- New deaths: 279
- New hospitalizations: 581
- New ICU admissions: 128
May 3 to May 9
- New cases: 4,023
- New deaths: 264
- New hospitalizations: 604
- New ICU admissions: 134
May 10 to May 16
- New cases: 3,276
- New deaths: 243
- New hospitalizations: 570
- New ICU admissions: 100
May 17 to May 23
- New cases: 3452
- New deaths: 299
- New hospitalizations: 567
- New ICU admissions: 129
May 24 to May 30
- New cases: 3,351
- New deaths: 182
- New hospitalizations: 574
- New ICU admissions: 119
May 31 to June 6
- New cases: 2,769
- New deaths: 210
- New hospitalizations: 449
- New ICU admissions: 102
June 7 to June 13
- New cases: 2,485
- New deaths: 176
- New hospitalizations: 404
- New ICU admissions: 104
June 14 to June 20
- New cases: 3,169
- New deaths: 136
- New hospitalizations: 337
- New ICU admissions: 79
June 21 to June 27
- New cases: 4,907
- New deaths: 101
- New hospitalizations: 423
- New ICU admissions: 83
June 28 to July 4
- New cases: 6,519
- New deaths: 96
- New hospitalizations: 487
- New ICU admissions: 136
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 3:52 AM with the headline "A deeper look at COVID-19 ZIP code breakdowns in Mahoning County."